I wonder what these CS list would look like if they include the foreign schools.
I not surprised about ASU anymore, because of one of the guys I see at the gym nearly everyday is an ASU alum working in high tech and the guy seems like a genius to me.
It’s the list of schools where Silicon Valley companies tend to hire from, apparently.
eta: This list specifically references both undergraduate and graduate alumni, so … interesting that those are mixed.
There is one foreign school on the list.
@srparent15 @MommaLue Kaiser is great health insurance, as long as you’re not sick.
I have an OOS daughter. Kaiser covers emergency room visits and urgent care. Year 1 we bought the inexpensive student bridge plan which allowed her to go to student health center for colds, etc. thinking urgent care and Emergency room was enough. Well that was a mistake since no regular doctor follow up type visits were covered and nearly everything would be directed from the health center to follow up with a regular doctor. She had to go to the ER twice. With those you have to of course pay your deductible and 20% co-insurance. So year 2 we purchased the full insurance from the school. Was cheaper to do that then change the whole family off of Kaiser or risk more ER visits.
ASU is known to have a great graduate CS program. For undergrad they will throw tons of money at you. For the midwest a lot of people use it as a safety and get the money plus honors. One day it will definitely be on the map for undergrad. I have no doubt.
Look at the schools your student is looking at. I think a lot of the issues at ours may be with HMO plans or plans that don’t carry unlimited coverage or where you can’t see any Dr out of network. At Texas there was no issue as they don’t have any type of insurance requirement. So it really depends on the school.
We double enrolled this year, kaiser and PPO. I also prefer Kaiser but there are no offices around some of the schools.
I looked into a few of the top choices before open enrollment last fall, one we would be ok with Kaiser within uber distance, one would need the PPO but has an on-site health center for all students for basic health care.
Right and it’s all relative because of course, not all companies are in Silicon Valley! Tons of tech now are in Washington, so those are going to primarily hire from U-Washington. THen you have the huge tech hub now in Austin which are going to hire from schools also out of UT and the Southeast, MIdwest and East Coast, and then take the East Coast. Many people on the East Coast, want to stay on the East Coast unless they’re from the West. THere are also a lot of people who graduate with these degrees and go onto get their PhD or Masters that none of this takes into consideration. There are so many factors. Career center is a good thing to really look at and ultimately where someone even wants to work. Not everyone wants to work in Silicon. Especially now that there have been a lot of layoffs and it is still expensive to live out there even with the housing market bursting. A lot of those companies within the past few years stopped giving the huge signing bonuses like they did in the past. A student who does well, is a self starter, should be able to get a job no matter where they go.
We are way too lenient with our kids as far as money goes. When D19 left for college I said we would set up an allowance type situation where I would deposit money into her account but we never did it. She uses a mix of her money and our money for shopping and food (lots of off campus eating in New Orleans but most of it pretty cheap.) She knows not to go too crazy usually but this week is her birthday and when I asked what she wanted she said oh, I actually bought a dress that was kind of expensive so that can be my present. 
Yes, my daughter is not particularly fixated on working in Silicon Valley, so that’s one reason these lists don’t seem particularly useful.
We have Cigna PPO and were able to opt out of the school plans for both of our current college students. Our daughter goes to school 3000 miles away. She has had to go to both the dentist and an Urgent Care facility. All we had to do was log in to our CIGNA account, put in the zip code and find in-network providers.
Our son had the misfortune of breaking his wrist a week after he got back to school last fall. He goes to school five hours away. Same thing - put in his zip code and found an in-network place to get an x-ray as well as a local orthopedic surgeon.
I think bottom line is, before trying to opt out of a university’s health plan, you (generally speaking, this is not aimed at you personally) need to check with your own insurance to find out what type of coverage is available where your kids go to school.
D19 told me today that my numbers were off. She usually has to pay $300 - $400 per semester, so not as much as I was thinking. Some of the professors write the books they’re requiring, so there’s that, too.
Yes, we have Cigna, as well. You were lucky! There were no Cigna providers available in the city our D20 goes to school.
We are pretty lenient, too.
Especially this year with pandemic bc we are all stressed. If buying an extra pair of shoes here or there or whatever makes him a bit happier, I’m okay with that. I’ll feel the same when he’s in college.
I do expect his grades to remain high. 
Wow, that stinks! My daughter goes to school in San Diego so no difficulty there finding in-network medical options. My son goes to school in kind of an out of the way area, but we still had quite a few options to choose from. Getting an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon was not fun (didn’t help that I was sitting on a beach trying to enjoy the last days of summer when he called to tell me it was broken; not ideal trying to access insurance info on my phone screen in bright sunlight!). Thankfully S21’s college acceptances are all in metropolitan areas so we should be fine if he happens to need medical care wherever he ultimately goes.
We live in San Diego, but d20’s college is in a small town. It’s ok, her college health insurance is really good, and we have a back up plan for her for emergency use.
@MorseLewis He is in at Utah and incredibly excited about the program because they have such a well regarded CS/EAE program. Waiting on the merit there, just like it looks like you are. I really wish they would offer merit with the acceptance.
I am trying not to get too excited about anywhere yet. My D19 was headed to a school 7 hours away for sure until decision time and then all of a sudden she wanted the closest UC to home. That experience makes me exceptionally anxious for the CA school results in case my S21 has the same kind of last minute change of heart.